WF Blue Denied Trip to States

The South Orange Villagers took the celebration out of the 4th of July semi-final district matchup by shutting down Westfield Blue, and eliminating them from the District tournament.

On a sunny and hot Sunday morning, the Villagers jumped into the lead with a 4 run first inning. Then South Orange’s lefty pitcher Evans proceeded to shut down the Westfield running game with a deceptive move to first that kept the base runners off balance all day.

George Murray had a solid hit in the 2nd inning, but the attack sputtered. Again and again throughout the day, Westfield batsmen hit the ball hard, but right at the South Orange fielders who simply lifted their gloves to render the line drives harmless.

South Orange added another run in the 3rd with a solo homer, making it 5-0.

Westfield flashed some leather in the top of the 4th with great fielding plays by Owen Murray and Tyler Roth. They came up swinging in the bottom of the inning when Steven Barmakian doubled, Parker Hess batted him in with a single and Justin Lin doubled. But Blue could only muster one run.

Rowan Oberman shut down the Villagers the rest of the way, and Michael Jeffery launched a shot to left in the bottom of the 6th, but Westfield was stymied by the South Orange south paw and the game ended in a disappointing 6–1 loss.

The day was not lost entirely, however. Under the leadership of Nancy Murray, the Westfield parents put on a delicious smorgasbord picnic after the game. Thanks to Nancy and all who contributed. As Mike said, “It was like going to a wedding after a funeral.”

Respectfully submitted by Joe Barmakian